Multi-Doctor stories-How much does the Doctor remember?

[Whofan]

One thing about the multi-Doctor stories is that they seem to be a bit inconsistent. Time Crash establishes that the Tenth Doctor remembers Meeting the Tenth Doctor when he was the fifth, and all he did. The novel Cold Fushion, which unites the Fifth Doctor and Seventh Doctors (Who couldn't be more different), also uses this plot point I believe.

However, if the Doctors do remember all the events, why don't they always (1) Know the solution to the problem they're facing ahead of the last incarnation(s) or 2) he's always suprised by his new face when he regenerates.

I think in most cases in the classic series, because of the Time Lord involvement, the Doctor's memories of each other are erased (and possibly those of the companions). We know Time Lords have memory/time-displacing powers from The War Games. However, that doesn't explain why the Doctor remembers Omega in Arc of Infinity, or his presidency in Trial of a Time Lord. Although I suppose the 'latest' Doctor in the crossovers remembers events.



I guess it's all wibbly-wobbly, Timey-wimey stuff, as mentioned in Blink and Time Crash.

Any thoughts?

 

[C.E. Evans]

To me, it was always a case that while each incarnation is the same person, they represent him in different time streams--and those time streams involve multiple different futures (and presumably different pasts and presents). Keeping track of 'em all is nothing short of a headache, IMO, so it's understandable--at least to me--how one Doctor may remember something that another doesn't.

I always thought that the Second Doctor in "The Two Doctors" was a temporal paradox--that he came from a time stream in which "The War Games" didn't happen until much later in his life (or may not even have happened at all), and he and Jamie were able to grow older as a result, because this version of the Second Doctor may have made peace with the Time Lords and never underwent a forced regeneration...

How scary is that? There could be multiple versions of the various Doctors roaming across time and space at any given moment, each existing in their own seperate time stream--there could be a white-haired Fourth Doctor who never fell from a radio tower or a Seventh Doctor that was never gunned down in San Francisco...

 

[diankra]

Think fourth (plus more) dimensionally. Until The Three Doctors happens, it hasn't happened for the first and second Doctors. So they (and the third Doctor) remember it once it's over (and the diversion to their original timeline reconnects into their original), but not during it. Same goes for later things (in particular, that the Master thinks he can kill Doctors 1, 2 and 3 without damaging his own history. If they die before the new loop has reconnected, then it won't affect their established history).
Except, in Time Crash, 10 remembers 5's experiences. Bang goes another theory!

 

[captcalhoun]

but he only seems to remember it as it happens.

 

[The Wormhole]

The best thing about the Fifth Doctor remembering Time Crash is that it retroactively works within continuity. After all, the Tenth tells the Fifth he recentally ran into the Master, meaning that from whatever point in the Fifth's life this takes place, he knows the Master is still around for one of his future incarnations to encounter. Which could explain what the Eighth Doctor meant in the opening narration of the telemovie when he said that even the death he couldn't trust the Master. Also explains why in Utopia when Martha told him Professor Yana had a fob watch the Tenth Doctor got so frantic, he remembered the Master was due to return and realized this was likely it.

 

[David cgc]

Considering what "The End of Time" showed us about the last days of the Time War, the Master was probably the person the Doctor was least concerned about when Martha said that another Time Lord surviving was good news and he responded that it "depends which one."

He might actually have been relieved when he looked into his eyes and recognized him again. At least it wasn't Rassilon.

 

[The]

Think fourth (plus more) dimensionally. Until The Three Doctors happens, it hasn't happened for the first and second Doctors. So they (and the third Doctor) remember it once it's over (and the diversion to their original timeline reconnects into their original), but not during it. Same goes for later things (in particular, that the Master thinks he can kill Doctors 1, 2 and 3 without damaging his own history. If they die before the new loop has reconnected, then it won't affect their established history).
Except, in Time Crash, 10 remembers 5's experiences. Bang goes another theory!

Not at all. Remember, of the times The Doctor has crossed his own timestream, the only one NOT controlled/initiated by the Time Lords themselves was Time Crash. And that's one he has foreknowledge/retro-connects to, memory-wise.

Thus, it's my theory that The Doctor only remembers certain aspects of each multi-Doctor story, with the appearances of his future selves and future companions muddled in his mind by the Time Lords. He might remember said face once he's wearing it. But, he's not expecting it. Save, of course, Ten's.

Ten looks at himself in the mirror, seems okay, checks his teeth, and is done. No surprise or anything. But, even given that, there's no reason after four or five-hundred-years of traveling he should remember the five-minutes he spent with a future self. The face wouldn't necessarily stick out to him until he sees it, I imagine. AND, not to mention, probably just forgot the whole thing happened until it happens for Ten. Ten's briefly confused until he recognizes what's going on right at the beginning: "Oh brilliant..."

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

IIRC, there was some comment in "The Two Doctors" about how the sedatives the Sontarans were using on the 2nd Doctor would affect his memories.

I'd need to rewatch "The Three Doctors," but I suspect that the Time Lords erased his memory afterwards.

As for "The Five Doctors," I got the impression that the Death Zone was outside of time. Because of that, every time a previous incarnation got picked up by the Time Scoop, the Doctor would forget everything that happened to that previous incarnation. That's why the 5th Doctor started to fade away. It wasn't until all of the Doctors were restored to their proper timelines that the 5th Doctor's memories returned. As a result, he didn't remember anything about that adventure until after it was over.

Considering what "The End of Time" showed us about the last days of the Time War, the Master was probably the person the Doctor was least concerned about when Martha said that another Time Lord surviving was good news and he responded that it "depends which one."

Are there any Time Lords that the Doctor would actually be happy to see besides Susan & Romana?

 

[timelord1010]

As for "The Five Doctors," I got the impression that the Death Zone was outside of time. Because of that, every time a previous incarnation got picked up by the Time Scoop, the Doctor would forget everything that happened to that previous incarnation. That's why the 5th Doctor started to fade away. It wasn't until all of the Doctors were restored to their proper timelines that the 5th Doctor's memories returned. As a result, he didn't remember anything about that adventure until after it was over.

I always thought that not only the Death Zone but all of Gallifrey existed outside of space time and that would keep anyone from traveling into it's past or future. This would be the only way the destruction of Gallifrey could be a surprise since The Doctor is always traveling into the far future and would have heard about the time war.